1980 - 1985

Miggs and Dick Durrance

photo of Dick Durrance skiing

I became pretty good at Cibachrome printing and was asked to teach it at the Aspen campus of Colorado Mountain College. I was contacted by a few local photographers to teach them how to make Cibachrome prints in their own darkrooms. I was fortunate to get to know and teach Ferenc Berko so he could make prints of his wonderful innovative color work. Margaret (Miggs) Durrance asked me to get her darkroom set up and teach her to print color.

Miggs and her husband Dick were legends in Aspen and the ski world. Dick had been a world champion skier and Olympic gold medalist. They were both creatives too. Miggs was a talented photographer and Dick was a great filmmaker. We became close friends.  Their love of life and generosity of spirit were infectious.

Miggs and Dick introduced me to their son Dick Durrance II who suggested I could work as his photo assistant on commercial shoots if I moved to New York. It was the mid 1980’s and I was ready for a change after 10 years in Aspen. It was clear I had no future as a sports photographer. The demand for beautiful mountain landscapes was limited. Say no more. I wanted to do more. I was going to move to New York, work for a commercial photographer and learn and grow. I was going to be the country mouse in the big city.